Soda Pop

We rated this book:

$16.99

Soda Pop is a crazy book where tigers live in barns, the pool is in the garage, and a giraffe eats beds. In the first couple of chapters, I was confused and bored, but as I kept reading I started enjoying it more, and I got how funny it was. My mom told me I had to read it upstairs as I was laughing so hard I was shaking the couch.

You can tell from the cover it’s going to be a really wild story, and the pictures inside reminded me of children’s drawings, with bright colors and rough sketches. It’s a very unique book that I think will appeal to kids who like silly and absurd stories, similar to books by Ronald Dahl. I thought it was especially funny that Soda Pop’s dad, Dartanyong, wakes up every morning thinking he is somebody else, but maybe that is why I was so confused in the beginning.

If you are looking for a more realistic story or one with more emotion, then this isn’t the book for you. You also probably don’t want to read this before bed as it will get you all wound up and laughing, but it’s a quick read that I think you’ll enjoy once you get into it.

I have never read the actual book Treasure Island so I was really interested in reading this book, especially since it is a book where you choose how the story ends. I have read this book so many times I think I finally found all of the endings. The best thing about this book is that you don’t like the way the story is going, you can just back up and start at the last place you choose from or just choose a different one the next time you come to a decision. Sometimes I thought my choices would help me get to the treasure but then I would come meet someone or something dangerous.

You will probably find yourself wanting to read this book rather than watching TV or taking it with you when you go places. It is as if taking a stack of books with you all combined into one book. This helps keep my bag lighter and saves money too. If you are looking for a new kind of book, this is going to be a must-have.

This book is about Aphrodite, the very beautiful goddess of love. To stop the gods from fighting over her, Zeus married her off to Hephaistos, but Aphrodite didn’t love him. She went off and had other husbands in this book, and she had a son she named Eros. Eros shot one of his arrows into the heart of Zeus and made him fall in love with a mermaid, Thetis. Her children would be twice as strong as their father, so Zeus marries her off to someone else quickly before he can marry her so her children won’t defeat him. At the marriage party, Eris threw her apple of discord at the three goddesses Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite, and Paris, a mortal, is chosen to give the apple to the fairest one. He chooses Aphrodite and Aphrodite makes him fall in love with the most beautiful mortal woman in the world.

Aphrodite was really rude in this book and really didn’t deserve to be a goddess. I thought it was really funny how they told the story, and how it was only about what happened to Aphrodite. I also thought it was cool how this was comics, in a graphic novel. Even though I didn’t like Aphrodite, I liked the book and want to read the other ones in the series!

Wade and his stepbrother Darrell are snooping around their dad’s office when he receives an encrypted message from an old friend and college professor. Together with Wade’s cousin Lily, Lily’s friend Becca, and Wade’s father, they decrypt the message and discover the legacy of Nicholas Copernicus. They must find twelve relics that are the key to operating Copernicus’ mysterious machine. Racing against them are the evil Galina Krause and her organization. At the end of this, the first of a planned six-book series, the children are left in possession of a single relic and many more mysteries to solve.

There are a lot of characters, which is kind of annoying, because all of them are really insecure and annoying, ridiculously happy that all their wonderful friends condescend to associate with them. Except for Darrell. He goes to the opposite extreme. Which is also annoying. However, the plot is really fun. The children’s stepfather is actually helpful, even though he spends part of the book as a hostage. The book is full of action and thrills, and I love the puzzling parts best. I am excited to read the next book in the series, especially to discover why Galina Krause has this vendetta against Copernicus!

Jim and his friend Oliver have done a science project together ever since they were in school, but this year Jim is tired of never being able to actually build a robot. He decides to partner with his crush, Rocky. They do a project on otters using Jim’s father’s security cameras without permission. But when Jim discovers the cameras are missing, along with Oliver’s new partner, Dmitri, Jim begins to suspect a felony. Dmitri turns up in a laundromat, heavily frostbitten, and with no security cameras. But he tells Jim, Oliver, and Rocky about a three-foot-tall dinosaur robot he saw that tasered him and prevented him from taking away the cameras. With the Science Fair and the Robot Contest imminent, Jim must act fast to get rid of the menace.

My favorite part of this book was when Jim and his sister were working or playing together. I thought it was fun how Penny helped Jim, even when her help wasn’t always the best, and how Jim helped Penny. It was obvious they loved each other, which is hard to find in these types of books. I think there is an opening for another book in the series, although it is a great stand-alone book too. The characters were three-dimensional, not just flat.

Fer is struggling with her friendship with the Puck-boy, Rook. She keeps trying to be friends, but Pucks are known for being disloyal, and so far, that has proved true for Rook, too. But Fer can’t spend too much time worrying about their friendship because when she made the rulers of other kingdoms in the Faerieland swear to take off their evil ‘glamories’, she didn’t know the consequences that would have. Now, as the unfulfilled oaths are poisoning the land, Fer must find a way to save both her world and her friendship.

I wish there had been a little bit more explaining of the mythology, because I didn’t really understand that whole thing. But I liked the different worlds that Fer could travel to in the book, and the descriptive scenes of the lands. Fer was a very likeable character, and very creative and brave. Rook was very annoying; most thirteen-year-old boys are (especially in books)! I liked the solutions to the problems they had, and that Fer was always hoping for the best.